Vol. No. Vol. 2518No. 9 27
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Wednesday, 13, 2022 2016 Wednesday,January August 31,
THREE GENERATIONS: Horsham’s Heath MacInnes will celebrate his first Father’s Day on Sunday with daughter Harper in his arms and partner Bridget Lowe by his side. Heath’s father Roger MacInnes now has two generations of MacInnes to keep a loving eye on. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Open to opportunity BY MICHAEL SCALZO
W
immera and southern Mallee leaders are exploring extensive opportunities as millions of visitors are forecast to visit regional Victoria for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Stuart Benjamin, chair of Regional Development Australia Grampians and a prominent Grampians-region businessman pointed to Birmingham’s hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games as offering lessons for the region. Mr Benjamin, who was in Birmingham in August as a sports fan, kept an
eye on methods the city of 1.1-million people and its regional fringe used to capture the benefits of a global sporting event. He said his recent expedition highlighted the ‘huge scale’ of co-operative business networks that supplied, accommodated, fed and entertained almost one million attending athletes, officials and spectators. He said the region was well placed to capitalise on procurement, tourism and upskilling benefits. He said the co-operative work of businesses and trader associations were a template for the Wimmera and
er global events beyond the Games.” Mr Benjamin said the 2026 Games offered a chance for the region’s businesses to supply their products and services on a bigger scale, helped by local procurement requirements. “I saw in Birmingham small businesses in regional communities engage with each other, and work together, to supply everything from fencing to porta-loos, to staff and food. A lot of that in Birmingham was organised by trader associations and even the university,” he said. “Even Birmingham couldn’t satisfy all the needs of the Games by itself
southern Mallee and foreshadowed a ‘huge opportunity’ the Games could offer regional Victorians. “I was struck by the amount of business delegations in the city who were negotiating with the local business groups about contracts for the Games and then, because of that, for contracts for events moving forward,” he said. “There is a chance for the region to have a legacy, and not just a hard infrastructure legacy. A lot of it will be soft infrastructure – lifting the skills of the community with everything from training to intra-industry co-operation and with skills we can then target oth-
without the communities in the Midlands region. “For example, for 2026, there are about 5000 beds of accommodation in Ballarat, but given there will be anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000 visitors to the city a day – they will need to be accommodated somewhere. “Yes, many will come from Melbourne, but there will be a dispersal of tourists across the region, and we need to encourage that, and businesses need to get creative about how they can package their products and services with the hub in Ballarat.” Continued page 5
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Father’s Day
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